Aurelia A. Blake How do you write? You write, man, you write, that's how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf and fruit every year by the thousands...If you practice an art faithfully, it will make you wise... --William Saroyan (1908-81) I am the seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher. Some may say, the torturer, in lieu of teacher. I am not a torturer. I am only the lead to whom my students are tethered. My job is to bring them to their own well and force them to taste the wealth within. Sometimes this can be an arduous affair for student and teacher alike. I am a graduate of the McGregor School of Antioch University. I received my teachers' training and masters in 1995. Prior to my eye-awakening education, I received my bachelor of arts as a theater major from the University of Colorado in Boulder, in 1975. In the twenty years between my undergraduate and graduate years, I traveled and pursued a career as a public affairs officer in the Air Force. I began teaching in Yellow Springs in 1996, starting at Mills Lawn Elementary School. I joined the McKinney Middle School staff in 2000. That same year, I became and have continued to serve as the Power of the Pen seventh and eighth-grade competitive writing teams' coach. My teaching philosophy can be described by this adage, "You learn to do by doing." My students write and write and write. They soon learn to savor the sweetness of their untapped words as they bring their words forth through the writing process. I re-design my curriculum frequently. When I'm in pursuit of a more creative method of teaching a particular genre of literature or element of grammar, I seek to provide my students an opportunity to think critically, problem-solve authentically and convey their emotions and thoughts in writing.
How do you write? You write, man, you write, that's how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf and fruit every year by the thousands...If you practice an art faithfully, it will make you wise... --William Saroyan (1908-81)
I am the seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher. Some may say, the torturer, in lieu of teacher. I am not a torturer. I am only the lead to whom my students are tethered. My job is to bring them to their own well and force them to taste the wealth within. Sometimes this can be an arduous affair for student and teacher alike.
I am a graduate of the McGregor School of Antioch University. I received my teachers' training and masters in 1995. Prior to my eye-awakening education, I received my bachelor of arts as a theater major from the University of Colorado in Boulder, in 1975. In the twenty years between my undergraduate and graduate years, I traveled and pursued a career as a public affairs officer in the Air Force.
I began teaching in Yellow Springs in 1996, starting at Mills Lawn Elementary School. I joined the McKinney Middle School staff in 2000.
That same year, I became and have continued to serve as the Power of the Pen seventh and eighth-grade competitive writing teams' coach.
My teaching philosophy can be described by this adage, "You learn to do by doing." My students write and write and write. They soon learn to savor the sweetness of their untapped words as they bring their words forth through the writing process. I re-design my curriculum frequently. When I'm in pursuit of a more creative method of teaching a particular genre of literature or element of grammar, I seek to provide my students an opportunity to think critically, problem-solve authentically and convey their emotions and thoughts in writing.